Rosewood History

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld), Monday 24 February 1941, page 4

Pioneer Heads Family of Four Generations.

Mr. L. Wass, Raceview, Ipswich, great-grandfather; Mr. W. Wass, Brisbane, grandfather;
Mr. E. W. Wass, Townsville, grandson; Robert E. Wass, Townsville, great-grandson.

Mr. Limberd Wass, who is head of the Wass family, lives with his wife at Raceview. He will be 79 years of age today, and his wife will be 77 on April 2. They have 12 children, all married.

Mr. and Mrs. Wass were both born in Lincolnshire, England, where they were married. They came to this country in 1888, making the trip in the Duke of Argyle. Their eldest son, who appears in the photograph published in this issue, was then an infant. From Brisbane they came on to Ipswich and stayed at the immigration depot for a few weeks. Then they proceeded to Toowoomba where Mr. Wass was employed at a tannery and in railway construction work. Mr. Wass recalls a big landslide which blocked the western line at Spring Bluff for a week. That was his first job on the railway lengths where he was employed for a total of 21 years. For some years he was employed on the line west from Toowoomba.

In 1901 he moved to Calvert. Reminded that that was the year of the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament, Mr. Wass replied that he was engaged on the line at Calvert when the Duke of York (later King George V.) passed through. At Calvert Mr. Wass bought a farm, which he operated until 1926, when the couple moved to Raceview, where today they are living in retirement.

Their family are-Messrs. William, Fred, Jack, and Harry, of Brisbane, Herbert, Toowoomba, Charles, Rosewood. Frank, Tallegalla, and Norman, who is in the Navy with headquarters in Melbourne. Mesdames Harris, Brisbane, J. Parry, Laidley, J. Ponting, Calvert, and W. Boole, Ipswich.